Doctor Who: The Darkness Spreads
by Luzari
Summary: Donna and The Doctor arrive on a horribly snowy night in 1838, London.
1. Chapter 1

The TARDIS screeched to a halt and landed with a thud. Donna lost her grip on the railing and fell to the floor, even The Doctor who'd yelled _Hold tight!_ Only moments before they landed had a hard time keeping his balance. She picked herself up.

"Don't you know how to fly this thing?"

"It doesn't do this… often." The Doctor said looking at one of the doo-dads on the control panel, or at least that's what Donna assumed it was.

It was all still so strange to her. She couldn't believe that she had just been to Pompeii, she'd seen hundreds of people die. They were a happy, bustling city one second, and covered in ash the next. It weighed heavy on her heart, the only thing that made her feel any better was the knowledge that they'd been able to save one family. It wasn't much, she knew that, but it was something.

"Well… where – I mean, when are we?" There was so much that she wasn't used to, and she didn't know that she ever would be.

"London, 1836." He shook his head at a small screen.

"You sound unsure."

"No, no it's not that. It's just, this isn't where I'd meant to be. We must have been re-routed."

"Re-routed?"

"Yes, It used happen pretty frequently, but I thought I'd gotten it under control." He flicked a few switches and some lights blinked.

Donna wondered how it was possible that he couldn't control his own machine, but she also wondered how you could control something that seemed so complicated.

"She's got a mind of her own, the old box." He said, patting the controls lovingly. "Well, let's get going, shall we?"

He threw open the doors and snowflakes blew in on the cold wind. They were in an alleyway off a main street. Light from the streetlamps poured into the alley illuminating the cobblestones and the white, new-fallen snow. Donna looked down at her thin, purple dress. It had made sense in Pompeii, but here it wouldn't work.

"I'm not going out there in this."

"Wardrobe's through there," He said pointing up the stairs and through a corridor. "First left, second right, go straight on past the pool and it should be right there on the left." He spouted off. The directions went on one of Donna's ears and out the other.

"Do you have a map?"

Donna stepped out into the cold night and pulled her long, velvet overcoat closer to her body. The street outside had a sweet, early morning calm. She heard a horse whiney nearby and could hear it's clopping get farther away and quieter.

She could see The Doctor out on the main road, looking up into the sky. She looked up and saw more stars than she'd ever seen in her life. It was breathtakingly beautiful. There had to be millions of them, twinkling up there like diamonds.

"It's amazing how many stars you can see without all of that bloody air pollution!" She called out to him.

"Huh" He looked at her slightly puzzled, as if he hadn't known she was standing only a few meter's from him. "Yeah, brilliant isn't it?" He smiled.

Suddenly, his eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but instead screamed when she felt someone behind her grab her arm. She spun around as quickly as she could, intent on giving her assaulter what-for, but he'd already ran. She could see him, draped in a long, black cloak, disappearing into the dark alley behind her. She felt The Doctor run past her, giving chase to the mysterious person and she followed suit.

They didn't have to run for long, because the alley soon ended in a brick wall, but the mystery man was nowhere to be seen. It would seem he had disappeared into the night. The Doctor felt up the wall, searching for something. He looked for something that would give way and open an unseen doorway, but found nothing. He pointed his sonic screwdriver, but it yielded the same results. The man was simply gone.

"Where did he go?" Donna tried to focus her eyes so to better see in the dark for somewhere the person might be hiding.

"I don't know." The Doctor furrowed his brow at the wall. "Are you alright?" He turned his attention towards her.

"Oh, yeah. Fine." The person hadn't grabbed her roughly, or even grabbed her at all. They'd more placed their hand on her arm gently, still it had frightened her. Maybe they hadn't meant anything malicious, only to get her attention. Though, if that were the case, why would they have run? She scratched her arm though the jacket where the stranger had touched it.

"Maybe it was nothing?"

"In my experience, it's usually never nothing." He put his screwdriver back in his pocket.

A door opened nearer the mouth of the alley, a woman in a nightgown stepped out into the snow. She held a candle out into the darkness, lighting her way.

"What's all this then?" She pointed her light toward Donna, The Doctor and the dead end of the alley. "I heard shouting."

"Sorry, there. Someone startled my friend, she was the one who yelled." The Doctor approached her doorway. "I'm The Doctor, this is Donna." The Doctor motioned for Donna to come forward.

"Come inside. Come in out of the cold and snow." The woman said. They happily obliged.

They entered through the doorway into a small but well-kept kitchen. The woman used the candle in her hand to light a lantern on the wall in the room. She was an elderly woman, she looked like she could have been Donna's grandmother.

"What on earth were the two of you doing out there in the middle of the night, in this weather even?" The old woman asked as she lit another lamp, this one hanging from the ceiling.

"We've been traveling." The Doctor explained. "We only just got into London tonight and we didn't mean to disturb you."

"I was awake anyway, I can't sleep when the wind howls like this. Never could." She blew out the candle in her hands. "And you two will be staying with me tonight. I won't have you going back out in that weather."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I've got an extra bedroom upstairs," The woman began and looked at them strangely. "They two of you – are you married?"

"_No!_" The Doctor and Donna both said in unison. "We're cousins visiting family here in the city." The Doctor added. Donna then realized how strange it would seem in this time to have two single people traveling together alone.

"Well, family or not the couch will suit you just fine." The woman said pointing at the Doctor. "It's comfortable enough and close to the fire."

"Thank you." The Doctor said, though he did not seem very happy.

"And as for you," The woman turned to Donna now. The spare room is upstairs, second door on the right. The fire's out in there so you'll have to start it yourself if you want one." Donna nodded. "My name is Hazel Carter, by the way. I've lived in this city all my life. I'll help direct you to your relatives' in the morning."

Donna pulled her coat closer to her body. She shivered. It was so cold she felt as though she were frozen. She scratched absentmindedly at a spot on her right arm. The woman turned away from the both of them and busied herself with something at the stove. Donna exited to the living room and tried to warm herself by the tired fire to no avail.

"Are you absolutely sure you're alright?" The Doctor, who had apparently followed her asked.

"Yeah, just a bit cold is all."

"Well, warm yourself by the fire here, maybe get a warm cup of tea in you and then we'll head off." He looked distant, as though he were lost in thought.

"Are we not staying here until morning?" Donna felt disheartened. She had been excited about the idea of a nice, warm bed for the night.

"I wasn't planning on it. Why, did you want to?"

"I don't see why we shouldn't. We weren't getting anywhere with mystery-alleyway man and what are we going to do in the middle of the night in the dead of winter in London anyway?" The spot on her arm itched more intensely now and she had noticed her scratching though she was pretty sure the doctor had not.

"If you want, I suppose we can stay." The Doctor said with a slight shrug. "But I'm not done searching for our mystery-man. I'd like to take another look at that alley in the light, though that will have to wait until morning."

Donna ascended the stairs quickly. She could feel cold pouring through the coat sleeve on her right arm and she was beginning to worry. Usually, itching was paired with an almost burning sensation but she felt as cold as ice. She wanted to take her coat of and warm her arm closer to the fire.

She had forgotten to bring a candle with her so the hall was quite dark but even so she could make out the second door on the left, the spare room. She tried to turn the silver knob but it wouldn't budge. She grabbed it with both of her gloved hands but the thing was stuck in its place.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hazel's voice asked in a sharp whisper from behind Donna. The scare made Donna jump up a little and grab at her chest.

"The bedroom, it's locked. I was only trying…"

"I said second door on the right, not the left. That is my – closet."

"Why is it locked?" Donna realized that this was a silly question; she wasn't even sure why she had asked it. Something inside of her, some burning curiosity about what was behind this locked door had urged her to ask it.

"Because it's my home, that's why. I don't believe that is any concern of – Why are you scratching your arm?" A strange look crossed the old woman's face and she to one step away from Donna.

Having been all wrapped up in the conversation and her new curiosity about the locked door, she hadn't noticed that she had begun scratching again. She pulled her hand away from her arm.

"I'm not sure, I –" Donna began.

"Take off your coat." Hazel demanded.

"What?"

"Take your coat off now. I want to see your arm." Hazel pointed at Donna's right arm.

"What's going on up here?" The Doctor asked. Donna hadn't even notice him come up the stairs.

"You've brought one of them inside my home." Hazel stepped away from the both of them, her eyes wide. She pointed at them both accusingly. "You've brought one of the afflicted into my home."

"Afflicted?" Donna asked. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Donna is not afflicted with anything."

"Then have her take off her coat. Show us her arm!"

"Donna, take off your coat."

"I won't" Donna disliked being accused of anything, especially when she'd done nothing wrong. She wasn't one of these 'afflicted.' The old woman was clearly insane.

"Just take it off." He pleaded with a sigh. "Show Hazel that there is nothing wrong with your arm."

Donna rolled her eyes but decided that if it would get the old woman to shut up she might as well do it. She unbuttoned the velvet coat and slipped it off of her arms and down her back. She pulled up the sleeve on the right arm of her dress, ready to prove the old woman wrong when she was met with a nasty surprise.

First of all, her arm felt as cold and as hard as ice, despite the fact that she could move it just fine it felt like solid rock in her left hand. Dark, black swirls curved around her upper arm in some kind of strange design, originating from the spot where the stranger had touched her earlier that night, the spot that had been itching so much. Donna gasped and the Doctor was silent beside her.

"You see! The mark of the afflicted." Hazel said triumphantly.


End file.
